Chinese official speaks out after being jailed for criticising Bo Xilai

A Chinese government official jailed for daring to criticise Bo Xilai, the
disgraced politician linked to the murder of British businessman Neil
Heywood, has spoken out about the 15-months he spent incarcerated in a
forced labour camp.

Ren Jianyu used social media to speak out against Bo Xilai's anti-mafia and populist 'sing red' campaignsPhoto: REUTERS

In his first interview with the western media since being released from China's notorious "re-education through labour" system this week, Ren Jianyu, 25, vowed to fight for compensation and described how his 2011 arrest "buried" him "in anger, pain and depression".

"I shared a cell with 11 other people – bunk-beds with a small space in between," Mr Ren told the Daily Telegraph. "It was a really grim and depressing environment. We did not have heaters in the winter and just two electrical fans in the summer. We used duvets and clothes left behind by former inmates. Most of my cellmates were in the camp for theft, troublemaking or gambling."

Mr Ren was jailed in August 2011 after posting and forwarding online messages that called for democracy and criticised the policies of Mr Bo, then the powerful party chief in the Chinese mega-city of Chongqing.

Last month, Mr Bo was expelled from the Communist Party paving the way for his trial for "massive" bribe taking and his role in the alleged cover-up of the murder of Heywood. In August, Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death sentence for poisoning the Briton in a Chongqing hotel room last November.

Mr Ren – who used social media to speak out against Mr Bo's anti-mafia and populist "sing red" campaigns – said the politician's downfall was now "inevitable" because of the "huge mess" he had caused.

He forwarded other messages touching on wider issues of democracy and freedom of speech. "Down with the Chinese Communist Party," read one.

After being detained he was sent to a labour camp near Chongqing in August 2011, where inmates were required to work long hours assembling cardboard boxes and coiling wire for local companies.

"The workload was really heavy and I never managed to finish it," he said.

"I had been so soaked in anxiety, solitude and such great mental stress that I ended up losing 15kg [33lb]."

Mr Ren's plight has triggered public outrage and stoked an already fierce debate about freedom of speech and the controversial "re-education through labour" system under which people can be held for up to four years without trial.

Originally set-up by Mao Tse-tung in the 1950s, there are now an estimated 350 such camps across China holding up to 190,000 people.

The "laojiao" camps are most commonly used to "rehabilitate" petty criminals but petitioners and dissidents are frequently sent there to undergo political re-education and military-style training.

Mr Ren said he did not see himself as a "symbol" and would leave the fight against labour camps to "legal professionals".

"I just happened to be in Chongqing at a very special time. I am cannon fodder. I am just a very ordinary person among millions of Chinese."

But he vowed to clear his name, regain his job and be compensated after a local court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit he had brought against them.

"I insist on this because it is a way to get back my identity and status."